A free online version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) rated me at serious risk of impending job burnout. I can’t say that surprises me.
Category Archives: the ongoing saga of my job
Dose Number One
Thanks to what’s known as a Closed Point Of Dispensing, I was able to receive the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine this morning, via my employer.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to be vaccinated… but there are so many others much more at risk than myself who should, by all rights, be getting this protection before me. My husband, an “essential worker” in the shipping industry, has been working as usual throughout the pandemic, and he’s unlikely to get vaccinated for weeks or months yet.
I’m scheduled to receive my second dose in four weeks, at which point I should only have a 6% chance of contracting and exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.
(My birth control pill only had a 3% chance of failure back in 2011, though. Just sayin’.)
Tails of the Office
When I dropped Connor off at camp this morning, he requested that I bring Tails to work with me. Of course, I was concerned that Tails wasn’t masked, but Connor seemed to think that was fine.
We certainly can’t have Tails setting a bad example, though….
Return To Worksite
Today was the day.
After 17 weeks of working from home, I drove in to the office for my first half-day on-site since the pandemic forced us all to quarantine.
I was one of three people present today in my team of nine total. To maintain appropriate distancing, we’re all rotating days in the office. I’m planning to be in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, and more often when I can.
When the Stay-At-Home order was enacted in Ohio, and my department started working from home full-time, I wasn’t sure how I was going to take to it. Even after the first four or five weeks, when I finally got myself into a proper routine, I was chomping at the bit to get back into the office. It would have been quite a stretch for me to believe I’d get to a point where I prefer working from home… yet, here I am.
For one thing, I find that I’m more productive in the afternoons when I don’t have to plan around my evening commute. Working from home gives me as much time as I need to finish the last task of the day without needing to wrap up all the loose ends and prepare myself to come back to it later. I can’t just stay late in the actual office downtown, even though I might like to, because I need to get home and be the responsible parent to my almost-nine-year-old once his Dad leaves for work.
I’ve really been enjoying the extra sleep I get every morning from not having to get up in time to wrangle my son and then drive to work. My internal clock has gotten surprisingly good at waking me up around 7:10am.
Alas, that’s now when I wake on weekends, too.
Having the option to work in any spot in my house is a luxury I’ve taken for granted. I’ve gotten used to being able to choose my setting: the sunroom, the home office, the kitchen table. I found myself wishing for a change of scenery this afternoon, and for some fresh produce to snack on.
I go back in tomorrow, then work from home Thursday-Friday, then I’m in the office all next week while Connor’s at science camp. It’s going to be weird.
Everything is weird now. Even the things that used to be normal.
Status: Itchy
Me being me, of course I would get a poison ivy rash on my face the day before I’m scheduled to be back in the office in person.